Identity In The Other Wes Moore

If you 're like most people, then you most likely believe that we are products of our environment. This idea could not be better represented than the two young boys that this story is about. In “The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates,” written by Wes Moore, two fatherless young boys that grow up with the same name and that live in the same neighborhood couldn 't have taken more different paths in life. Wes Moore becomes a Rhodes Scholar, veteran and a college graduate. The “other” Wes Moore becomes deeply involved with the drug game and is mixed up with the law almost all of his life. The reason why one Wes Moore became a college graduate and the other became a drug dealer is because of the family environment that they have grew up in. Although there families had different expectations, they both exceeded them.

Two men have the same name, with completely different lives and futures. The Other Wes Moore is about two men with the same name but completely experiences in life. The author Wes goes into military school which changes his life. The “other” Wes stays in the drug business and ends up in prison. The Similarities and Differences pertaining to Family Life and role models of both Moores were described in The Other Wes Moore.

Many individuals say that a person is a product of its surroundings. And for two young men from Baltimore, this could not be any more accurate. In “The Other Wes Moore” by Wes Moore, the author talks about two young boys who shared the same name and the contributions they did in their lives that made them turn out the way they are. Both Wes’ grew up in similar environment with tough childhood and without the presence of a father. Where one becomes very successful and a Rhodes Scholar, and the other is heavily involved in the drug game and receives a life sentence in prison for serving a part in a murder of a former police officer. This book is a major example of how certain decisions can affect one’s life. Both Wes’ had similar lives, yet they ended up in different paths. There are few factors why they ended up having different paths and those factors are; parental support and figures, the environment style, and the social influences.

Identity is something unique that everybody has, and it is what makes us be what we are. We are part of a crowded society yet, we are all different. Every person has different personality, characteristics and behave differently. It depends on how we show ourselves in this society as Nancy Mairs and David Sedaris did. Mairs did not want to be defined by her condition even though she had to learn how to live with it, and Sedaris thought that his behavior was normal of a child without caring of the comments of people who surrounded him. Moreover, Identity is created by how we define ourselves, not by how others define us.

I believe that Moore, the author, is trying to say that the second chance is trying to rewrite the first mistake and the last chance could be your last chance. The author’s last chance to stop his drug dealing was when he was sent to military school. His temper against his mother, bad grades, absences from classes and an incident with a smoke bomb were the reasons his mother sent him to military school. (Moore 87) The “other” Wes had the decision to stop selling drugs while raising his family. He later joined the Job Corps, but later realized he could not make the money like he did in the drug business. On page 144, Wes was passing the streets remaining him of his past, “But the main reason he avoided the streets was that he felt they had nothing for him. He had changed. At least he wanted to believe that.” Wes later made the decision to take the risk to sell drugs for a living.

To begin, Albert Einstein once said, “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” Curiosity, a desire to know or learn something, must exist in in this world in order for new things to be discovered. In the novel, Anthem, written by Ayn Rand, the male protagonist, Equality 7-2521, lives in a dystopian society in which everyone are forced to learn and think the way the World Council of Scholars want them to. The World Council of Scholars are the smartest people who dictate everything in this society. Equality 7-2521 begins to break away from this conformity, beginning with his encounter with an underground tunnel where he learns of electric light; then he presents his discovery to the World Council of Scholars. The rejection of his discovery leads him to the Uncharted Forest, an area around the city where it is illegal to go, being followed by Liberty 5-3000, his girlfriend, and resulting in finding a house from the Unmentionable Times, or times before the society was created. There are manuscripts from the Unmentionable Times inside that house, that

In this quote, Wes Moore, the narrator is speaking from his house in Baltimore. Wes does not have many memories with his father because his father died when Wes was a little boy.This reveals that Wes had a difficult childhood. Wes looked up to his father because he was his protector. Wes’s only memories with his father are when he made him apologize to his mother and sister for hitting his sister and watching him die

The identity a person holds is one of the most important aspects of their lives. Identity is what distinguishes people from others, although it leaves a negative stereotype upon people. In the short story Identities by W.D Valgardson, a middle-aged wealthy man finds himself lost in a rough neighborhood while attempting to look for something new. The author employs many elements in the story, some of the more important ones being stereotype and foreshadow.

Art, artifice and identity is the theme explored through the use of the two chosen stimulus texts Grayson Perry: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl and The Importance of Being Earnest, written by Wendy Jones and Oscar Wilde respectively. Art and artifice merge as Grayson Perry uses his alter-ego, Claire, to express his creativity and identity. Similarly, the artifice of an alter-ego is part of The Importance of Being Earnest, as the play's protagonists, Jack and Algernon, deceive family and friends by lying about their identity to suit them best.

Identity is something people tend to think of as consistent, however that is far from the case. The Oxford English dictionary states that the definition of identity is “ The characteristics determining who or what a person or thing is.” The allegorical novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding tackles the issue of identity while following young boys from the ages twelve and down as they struggle with remembering their identities when trapped on a deserted island. Identity is affected by the influence of society and how individuals influence society based on their identities. By looking at Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the Stanford Prison Experiment, and Sigmund Freud 's philosophical ideas, it becomes clear that identity is affected by society through peer pressure and social normalities. The individual influences society by what they choose to show of their identity and what their ‘Superego’ shows of the ‘Id’ portion of their brains.

Many people may not know much in the way of their identity. The challenges can help people learn about themselves through the actions they take and what they can achieve in the face of adversity. Learning about your identity is represented quite well by Santiago in Paulo Coelho’s fantasy novel The Alchemist. The the start of the story Santiago is lost with no goal in life and has little knowledge of what it outside of the plains and towns of Spain. Then Santiago is faced with massive amounts of adversity in the form of a threat of death he learn about his identity and learns that he can face and overcome the challenge. Ultimately Santiago has developed his identity through the soul of the world and alchemy and has achieved his personal legend

Your identity are the qualities, beliefs, personality, looks and/or expressions that make you who you are. Your identity helps you find your destiny in life. Without the knowledge of your identity your life will be incomplete. One of the main ways a person can find their identity is by finding out who their ancestors were and what was their purpose in life. Toni Morrison’s Milkman in “Song of Solomon” is a good example of how people can find their identity through their ancestry. Milkman was born into a sheltered, privileged life. He lacked compassion, wallows in self-pity, and he alienated himself from the African-American community. Eventually the discovery of his family history gave his life purpose.

We as a society face many issues. Due to our diversity as a country, the values and beliefs of one culture battle against another.

The Other Wes Moore is a story about the lives of two people with the same name, but it seems as though each of them has been led down a different path. They started out in similar situations, made good and bad decisions, had decisions made for them, and some way, somehow, one Wes Moore overcame all the difficulties while the other Wes Moore now has to live a life of difficulty in prison. The book is told in first person point of view by the Wes Moore that overcome life 's difficulties. In the Baltimore Sun, they ran a newspaper about the author and how he received the Rhodes Scholarship. In the very same newspaper, series of articles were ran about the other Wes Moore stating that the police were trying to locate him on charges of robbery and